Rented a Tesla 3

[bluetoy]

Let me preface this by saying I am a huge Tesla fan.

Thanks to Turo I was able to rent a Model 3 for the weekend. It was a 2019 standard range plus. EPA rate 402 km range. I picked it up Sat morning. It was sunny and dry. On my drive home of about 40 km I used autopilot as much as I could. I can say the autopilot is pretty good. However it is also pretty bad. I found it way overreacted to cars pulling out form side streets etc. They had plenty of room and pulled out safely. The 3 slams on the brakes every time. Also when someone slows and changes lanes to exit or turn the 3 keeps slowing far beyond what would be considered normal. Auto pilot does work great in traffic in the city. It does like to showcase the acceleration of the 3 though. I found myself driving with the car set in chill mode instead of standard mode to keep the drag race launches to a minimum. Maybe thats just me getting used to it. I found it to be far from smooth even when the road was clear. The steering wasn't rock steady, it tended to always be moving the wheel ever so slightly. Acceleration even in highway situations was overly aggressive and abrupt. I had several instances of the car hitting the brakes for no reason and when using the lane change feature it would sometimes swerve abruptly back to the original lane part way through the lane change. After using autopilot all weekend as much as possible I found it to be more of a party trick than something I would actually use.

Range anxiety does exist. Add rain and colder temps to the mix and you can forget what the epa says. I found myself worrying about range all the time. There is a supercharger 30 km from my house and one located downtown as well. I live outside the city. Most EV chargers around here require 6-7 hours to fully charge your car. They are not conveniently located near anywhere you want to park at. I found myself sitting at a level 2 charger last night from 11:20 to 12:05 am just to give me a few more KM's charge to get home. At home I only had a 115 plug to charge it but by this morning it showed 93 km's of range. The supercharger was easily in reach. Well good thing I had 90 kms because after my 30 km highway drive at 110 km on auto pilot I had 25 kms remaining when I arrived at the supercharger. They are fast. Charged the car over the recommended 80% charge up to 350 k range in about 45 minutes. I drove about 210 kms today and found myself sitting at the same level 2 charger for 30 minutes just to get 15 km more range to make it downtown to get another supercharge. I was at 4km remaining when I got there. I found that the epa 402 km means 100% charge level in perfect conditions with no A/C on and no lights on. Real world I would say to be comfortable you need to be at a charger every 200 kms. I'm sure having a home charge station would make a huge difference but I don't have one and the dryer plug that was supposed to come with it wasn't there. It just wouldn't work for my lifestyle and that makes me sad.

Over all the model 3 is a fantastic car. Take away the electric car stuff and it would still stand out in it's price range. It is well thought out and well executed. The large screen with all the controls in it is actually nice to use. The minimalist style interior looks and functions great. The interior materials were outstanding. As I said even with out being an electric car it still would stand out in its price range. Car is very comfortable and very quiet. There is road noise, more than I was hoping for but livable. The door handles are a bit clunky to use. I am glad I rented it because it will save me 55000 bucks. To bad because as I said before I love Teslas. I have to say once you get used to one pedal driving you'll love it. You'll also love never ever having to change the brakes. Also for being just a standard range plus RWD 3 it accelerates like nobodies business. I'd love to drive a performance model 3 or S.

I still think Teslas are awesome but I also think real world range is no where near epa range. There needs to be way more infrastructure in place and all the chargers need to be level 3 high speed chargers. Level 2 is about 30-50 km range per hour. A supercharger can go into the 6 - 700 km range per hour charge rate. It's coming. Just not here yet. 1000 km epa range might be livable. Then you could realistically expect 600 km per charge. Keep in mind that it is not recommended to charge over 80% on a regular basis also not recommended to go below 10% charge (which I did 3 times in 2 days).

If I have any facts about chargers wrong it's because I've been on a steep learning curve since yesterday morning. I do know one thing, you'll need 4 or 5 apps to cover your bases for public charging. They are not all the same and even if they are free you'll need a membership to use it.

[Screw]

Thanks interesting insight

[WidowrRacing]

I’d rather have a GT500, 350R, Demon, Redeye, ZL1, Z06 and the list would go on and ON.....

[RedSN]

Real world I would say to be comfortable you need to be at a charger every 200 kms. ]

Not bad considering I drive about 50 km per day. Charge it overnight in the garage (I have 220V), I would have no problem with range.

My wife drive 7 kms per day, she could go all month!

[stangstevers]

I do 120km per day on average and want an electric as my next ride. The thought of not having to pump gas each week in the -40 weather getting yelled at in Punjabi for leaving the engine running is worth it alone.

[True Blue]

I would love to know what kind of range these cars get in -30 temps? Just the thought of having to always remember not to charge over 80% or go below 10% on a regular basis, plus having to deal with range anxiety. Yeah no thanks, I'll gladly stand at the pumps for 5min once every 1-2 weeks with a smile on my face.

[ZR]

Been in one, drove one, impressive performance but combo of road noise and ride felt more like a cheap-ish vs expensive car.
Did I mention how freakin fast it is??
Wonder how many laps it would do at the track............... hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

[Laffs]

Great review, thank you for posting. So overall if you had to summarize it would be that it's an impressive car but the technology and infrastructure still have a ways to go before one could be considered a viable worry-free transportation solution for the masses?

[Quicksilver]

My urologist has a Tesla. He bought it almost 5 years ago so it was one of the first. He's currently got over 200,000 KM on it and says it's the best car he ever had. He took it to Ottawa 2 years ago and had no problem with range.

[hammerhead]

Thanks for sharing - confirmed some questions and concerns - I often think of electric for my commute but couldn't afford one that would come close to range I would want - saw an older couple in a leaf last year in the dead of winter and they had frost on the inside of their windows - freezing rain or snow would have finished them- I'm can only imagine - someday I may own one but will also never give up gasoline unless forced too....

also- would be nice to get a cost comparative on gasoline vs electricity - I currently spend about 350-450 a month to power my home with Hydro - currently with my new v8 I spend about 700/month for 5000 kilometers - with the right gasoline vehicle I have average 350-400/month covering the same 5000 kilometers per month I achieved in the past - I was always curious how much hydro I would spend with an electric car if I commuted in this fashion (I'm not asking if you can provide this info - just a thought I've always had)